Man wanted in Bristol County murder has been extradited to Massachusetts from Guatemala

A previously wanted man is being extradited back to Bristol County after being accused of murder.

According to Jennifer Sowa of the Bristol County District Attorney’s Office, Mario R. Garcia, who was on the Massachusetts State Police Most Wanted Fugitives list, wanted for the 1991 homicide of Ismael Recinos-Garcia in Attleboro has been extradited to Massachusetts from Guatemala. Garcia will be arraigned for the charge of Murder on Tuesday at Fall River Superior Court.

A multi-agency investigation that spanned more than 30 years and two continents concluded in December of 2022 when authorities working in Guatemala captured Garcia.

Garcia was found living under an alias and operating a shrimp farm in Iztapa, Guatemala. Garcia was wanted for the November 16, 1991, stabbing homicide of Ismael Recinos-Garcia during a fight at Dean and Bank Streets in Attleboro.

Shortly after the homicide, Attleboro Police Detectives and Troopers from the State Police Detective Unit for Bristol County identified Garcia, then 19 and now 50, as the assailant and obtained an arrest warrant. Garcia immediately fled and, despite extensive efforts by law enforcement agencies in various US jurisdictions, could not be located.

In 2014 the State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section developed information that Garcia had likely fled to a remote area of his native Guatemala. The VFAS case officer, then-Trooper Curtis Cinelli, continued to work on the investigation after he left the fugitive unit in conjunction with VFAS, Attleboro Police, the United States Marshals Service, the Bristol State Police Detective Unit, the MSP Unresolved Case Unit, and the Bristol District Attorney’s Office. In March 2021 the State Police added Garcia to their Most Wanted Fugitives list.

In early 2022, now-Detective Lt. Cinelli assigned to the MSP Executive Protection Unit, developed information that Garcia might be working on a shrimp farm in Iztapa, Guatemala.

VFAS identified a specific shrimp farm and forwarded the information to the US Marshals Service.

The US Marshals Service Office of International Affairs, the Operations for Central America and the US Department of State Diplomatic Security Service Overseas Criminal Investigations Unit in Guatemala coordinated the deployment of an investigative and apprehension team on the ground in Guatemala.

That team confirmed the shrimp farm as Garcia’s location and determined he was using an alias. Bristol County District Attorney Thomas Quinn then worked with the US Department of Justice to facilitate the issuance of a provisional warrant for Garcia’s arrest.

Garcia attempted to evade capture by jumping into a body of water at the shrimp farm but was apprehended and placed into custody.

The apprehension of Garcia was a joint effort of Attleboro Police Department, Massachusetts State Police, Massachusetts State Police Violent Fugitive Apprehension Section, United States Marshals Service District Massachusetts Fugitive Task Force, United States Marshals Service International Investigations Division, U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Services, & Policia Nacional Civil Guatemala. The Department of Justice, Office of International Affairs also assisted in this matter.